Sonko under fire over albino remark

Nairobi County Senator Mike Sonko is under siege over a comment made about his competitor for Nairobi County gubernatorial seat on Jubilee Party, Peter Kenneth.

Speaking during an interview on Sunday Live in Citizen TV, Senator Sonko referred to Kenneth as an ‘albino’, a remark that rubbed nominated MP Isaac Mwaura the wrong way.

Mwaura, who is a champion for persons living with albinism, demanded an apology from the flashy Nairobi senator terming his utterances ‘immature, discriminatory and unacceptable’ of a leader of his calibre.

He castigated Sonko for watering down his unwavering endeavour to empower people living with albinism by demonstrating that they have ‘beauty and ability beyond [their] skin.’

Mwaura has threatened to take stern actions against Sonko if he does not apologise and retract the remarks.

“We want to have a culture where Kenyans respect one another,” retorted Mwaura.

The nominated Member of Parliament representing people living with disabilities further wants the Jubilee Party to come out strongly against Senator Sonko.

Mwaura accused Sonko of playing victim in the Thursday drama at Jubilee Party headquarters where he (Sonko) mobilised supporters to cause chaos at the party offices alleging that he was being locked out of the Jubilee Party Nominations.

Senator Sonko spoke bitterly against Peter Kenneth during the interview, insisting that he is not ready for a compromise with the former Gatanga legislator.

“I am not going to step down for one Peter Kenneth! I will not be his running mate. Even if he agrees to step down for me, [saying] he wants to be my running mate, I will not accept it,” said the senator.

He insinuated that Kenneth was being used by foreign powers to scuttle Central Kenya votes in the 2013 General Election and hence keep Uhuru Kenyatta from clinching the presidency.

The flamboyant senator demanded that Peter Kenneth publicly announces his defection from his National Congress Party (NCP) to Jubilee and apologise for the agony he caused President Uhuru Kenyatta, Mama Ngina Kenyatta and himself (Sonko) and family for betraying Kenyatta in 2013.

“I am giving him a condition; he was not there when we were creating Jubilee. Let him have a rally in Gatundu, let him call Mama Ngina Kenyatta, let him call Sonko, Let him call all the Jubilee supporters. Let him apologise. Let Him convert the tears we shed that time to tears of Joy,” said an agitated Sonko.